Tips for Creating the Effect of a Water Background in Coloring

Coloringpagesfortoddlers.com – To make this leaf stand out the background was turned into a water background! Acrylic Paint was used to create the light blue reflection of the skies on water. Ultramarine paint was selected for the shadows of the leaf and to add the ripples. Then, ink pens and Prismacolor Premier pencils were used to add the swirls at the edges of the leaf to make the ripple effect.

The secret to achieving the feeling of the subject floating on water is the PATTERN! Follow the outline of the leaf to create the curves and that will become the pattern of the ripples.

Here’s a progression of the leaf being colored. You can see how the touches that were done to the background, in particular the ripple effect, really achieved that feeling of floating on water vs. the original background which was the leaf falling down to the ground.